Which Freemasonry in Trieste?

Analysis by Paolo G. Parovel

The prejudices against Freemasonry are not fuelled only by ignorance and persecutory enmity, but also by the fact that too many people abuse of its name and symbols to cover political fanaticism, sect-like behaviours and criminal activities. Therefore, to overcome the prejudices it is necessary distinguishing individuals and actions deserving honour from those that do not deserve it.

In 2012 and 2015, the most numerous Italian Masonic obedience, the Grande Oriente d’Italia (G.O.I – Grand Orient of Italy), held in Trieste two relevant public conferences: one dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Italian national unity (which does not include Trieste) and the other to reflect on World War I (in which 99% of the Triestines did not fight for Italy, but for Austria – Hungary).

The purpose to finally overcome the historical nationalistic impregnation of Italian Freemasonry was clear from the titles of both conferences: “From Trieste a desire for freedom between multi-culture, a variety of religions, and persecutions” (2012) and “To not forget – From the thorns of the great war to the composition in European consciousness” (2015).

But these good intentions developed within Italian Freemasonry have not yet scratched, or not scratched enough, the Italian nationalism that still takes root in the lodges of Trieste. A nationalism that is hard to eradicate, because it unites to the ideological conditioning vast, illegal material benefits.

The conditioning has been forced by 100 years of Italian nationalistic propagandas, which have also provided the political justification to abuse of Masonic solidarity establishing local networks made of business and favours. Because in Trieste the history of Freemasonry is absolutely abnormal.

Trieste has been Austria from 1382 to 1918, and it was under the jurisdiction of the regular Austrian Freemasonry, plurinational and loyal to the Empire. But in the late XIX Century, its jurisdiction was illegally invaded by irregular Italian Freemasonry, which supported a racist, anti-Slav, irredentist and violent and even terroristic Italian nationalism.

After that Trieste was occupied by Italy, the local heads of the Italian irregular Freemasonry became the dominant group and they supported Fascism first and nationalist anti-Fascism later, along with this, they did maintain control of the city in the second afterwar supporting Italian interests against the Free Territory of Trieste.

The recognition of the Free Territory of Trieste as sovereign State since 15 September 1947 (LINK) did also give raise to a new Freemason jurisdiction, in which were established two new main Masonic obediences: a regular and plurinational one, connected with the Freemasonry of the United Kingdom and with that of the United States, and a irregular Italian nationalistic one, at the orders of Rome.

Therefore, the nationalistic Italian masonry did also support a new, violent irredentism with the illegal objective to destabilize the Free Territory of Trieste and hand it over to Italy with an insurrection lead by organised nationalistic and neo-fascist groups that were funded and provided with weapons by Italian secret services.

In 1954, the United States and the United Kingdom, which provided, in a military form, the first provisional government of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste, did delegate its military defence to the NATO and the temporary civil administration to the Italian Government. Not to the State of Italy, since that would have caused a conflict of sovereignty.

But the change of provisional administration became the excuse to illegally dissolve the Masonic obediences of the Free Territory of Trieste and absorbing their members in local Italian lodges, impregnated with racist nationalism to the point of rejecting an influential Slovene Freemason, active in Anglo-American intelligence, who was therefore exiled in secret lodge P2.

The illegal re-establishment of nationalistic Italian Freemasonry in Trieste had a double devastating negative effect, because it has marginalized the ethical-philosophical effort and it has strengthened the illegal function of transversal political control over the economy, political parties and certain parts of magistracy through networks of trades and favours.

This kind of networks is anti-masonic, but since they do privilege their members causing an unfair damage to the work, properties and enterprises of common citizens, in Trieste this did not only fuel resentments against those who are responsible for this situation, but against all of Freemasonry.

The Italian nationalistic Freemasonry that occupies Trieste since 1954 was not even capable of providing it with skilled executives, and it has hidden and paralysed for decades the rights of the Free Territory, letting sink the city, the free port, the citizens, the families and the enterprises (LINK).

Those who, instead of building, preserving and developing with equilibrium the moral and economic building of the community, let it fall in ruin for their own fanaticism and advantage, increasing poverty and favouring the rule of the incapable, imbeciles and dishonest, have nothing to do with Masonic work.

Up to now, nobody was able to revert this local situation of civil and masonic downgrading, even if its public evidence and protections are the same as the Emperor’s new clothes, which nobody can see but nobody is brave enough to say it out aloud.

Except us, who did write an analysis about this back in 2012 (and published in Italian at this LINK) because the influence of Freemasonry, being it good or bad, liking it or not, is and remains important for the civil society, therefore it is important publicly discussing it, even if this is not easy for all, and unpleasant to many.

In facts, we did receive both authoritative consents for this by those who practice or appreciate the universal, humanistic values of Freemasonry, and insults or retaliations from those who reduce it to some ideological consortium of nationalism and malfeasance.

As for this, we had also quoted the “Codice della vita italiana” (Code of Italian Life) by Giuseppe Prezzolini: «It is not true that Italy is a disorganized Country. We must understand: here the form of organization is the camorra. The Party as the religion, municipal as economic life do inevitably take this aspect. There is no lack of discipline, but it is the kind of discipline of the camorra, the super discipline that goes from the fas to the nefas.»

Prezzolini had written this in 1919. We write it in the Winter Solstice of 2015. Therefore it is time that even in Trieste, without prejudices or useless resentments, but with seriousness and firmness, people start to distinguish which one must be the truthful and legitimate Freemasonry within the jurisdiction of the Free Territory, and what, on the contrary, is an abuse or a form of camorra to be demolished.